Improvement in tag-machines



Z Sheets-Sheet 1.

H. D. MEN'TZEL.

` TAG-MACHINE. 190,506.

Patented May 8,1877.

HENRY I). MENTZEL, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN TAG-MACHINES..

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. H90,506, dated May 8,1877 applicationl filed April y5, 1877.

To all whom .tt may concern Be it known that I, HENRY D. MENTZEL, of the city of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented certain Improvements in the Art of Making Shipping-Tags, of which the following is a specification; and I do hereby declare that in the same is contained a full, clear, and exact description of my said invention, reference being h'adto the accom A piece, in the punching of the same by means of a pointed punch.

In carrying out my present invention I employ a machine described in 'Letters Patent No. 165,109, granted to me June 29, 1875, to which machine certain additions are made, not, however, herein claimed as a part of my present invention. A description of the machine andthe additions made thereto is given herein, iurorder that the nature of the im provements claimed may be the better v.nderstood.

In the description of the said invention which follows, reference is made to the accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof, and in which- 4'Figures l, 2, and 3 are, respectively, a side view, an cud. view, and a sectional plan, of a tag-machine embodying the said improvements. Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate parts of the machine on an enlarged scale.

Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts ofthe invention in all the views.

A represents the bed of the machine, supported upon suitable legs bolted to the under side thereof. `B Bfiare stands or frames, the upper ends of which are adapted to carry the horizontal revoluble drivingshaft C. Certain of the stands or frames B are forked at their upper ends, to admit of the rotation of the irregularly-shaped eccentrics or cams D, secured to the shaft C, and whichj communicate motion to punches and cutters of various kinds, hereinafter fully described,

The driving-shaft C is grooved its entire lengt-h, and the eccentries fitted with keys,

which rest within the said groove, and serve to give to the eccentries and shaft a conjoined rotary movelnent. This manner of connection also admits of the longitudinal movement of the eccentrics, and the stands between vthe forked ends of which the said ecceutricsI are confined.

The paper-strip illustrated by a dotted line7 from which the tags are made, is fed longitudinally of the bed A of the machine by means of rollers a, having an intermittent rotary movement transmitted thereto through the medium of a system of gearing, 4which actuates a ratchetwheel connected therewith.

The first of the series of punches orcutters operated from the cams is represented by b, and consists of a bar having a Cuttingedlge,

and adapted to move vertically within a guide` secured tothe front face oi its stand. The

said bar, during a portion of its movement,

passes in close proximity to the sharpened edge of a plate,c, or through a circular or other ,shaped perforation in the'same, and thereby shears off or punches out a portion of the metallic ribbon d, which is fed thereto, and thereby forms the strengthening or reenforcing piece for a tag. The metallic ribbon is coiled around a small shaft, e, situated in any convenientposition, and is fed under the punch b, at any desired angle with the longitudinal center-line of the bed, by means of rollers f, intermittently revolved by suitable mechanism from some moving part of the machine.

The ribbon is fed to the upper face of the Vpaper strip, which is supported yieldingly by a spring, g, extending from the bed, and is depressed as the punch descends after shearing or punching the metallic ribbon. The spring also serves to elevate the re-enforced paper strip after its perforation by the pointed punch E, hereinafter described, and removes the burr caused by the perforation of the ribbon from the cavity in the bed, into which it has been forced by the said punch. The pointed punch .trios opereting these two punches tact with' the peper, while the pointed punch descends end perforates the tag. v

In the perorating operation, the metal displaced oy the entering' punch forms aburr, which passes through the peper; and in order to prevent the irregnler tearing or' the introverted port of 'the metal, or the burr, the seid punch is polygonal in shape at its point, end thereby cuts the hnrr into many segments as there ere angles to the punch, which segments ere turned np or clinched in sn'osequent step in the teg-looking operation.

After the perforation of the re-en'orced pa per` strip, the seid, strip passes longitudinally of the bed Ato the next punch, which consistsof e hollow-faced vertically-moving har, E, adapted, when down, to pese over e conical projection, la, on the bed A. This conical pro jection is provided with a spring', i, siiniler to the one, g, underneath the punch I), which extends shore the said projection when the hollow-faced punch is elevateda Theperfo rated paper, when hroughtlnnder the pnnch F, rests upon this spring, and directly over theA conical proiection aforesaid Upon the descent of the thereby allowing the conical projection to en ter the perforation in the tag end turn the edges ofthe hnrr over the peper. As the @noch F reaches the hed, the burr is attened and the securingv of the re-enthrcing piece coinpleted. Upon the return or elevation of the' punch F, the spring i lifts the paper clear ol' the conical projection Il, and allows it to pass to the next punch or cutter G. The cutter @llhes e triangular cntting-i'aee, and at each downward stroke cuts e i/shapeil notch in the paper strip aforesaid. After this operation the peper passes. to the last cutter H, which divides or shears the peper strip centra-ily of the il-shaped notch, and allows the severed end ofthe strip to fall es a completed teg.

As. betere said, the stands B ere, especie of 'beine moved ltniritndinall of the hed end e y L .Y i i instrnrnent, and by clinching nemesio irregular I with this `View ere grooved-at their'lower ends to fit over the upper edges of the bed. The frames, whezfplaced in their desired positions, are secured thereet by meens of a bolt, le, and e har, L 1.

From the foregoing it wil be seen that, elthongli the width of the tags is primarily regulated by the distance which the. peper is moved at eech revolution of the. shalt C, end which distance may be Varied by n change in the relative positions ot' the several parte of the feeding mechanism, the locations of the cutters lieve to correspond with the distance fed to form n. perfect teg', and that this loca-l tion of the cutters is easily arranged in View of the astenings or' the stands, es above described. rlhe stands with their attachments being interchangeable, the stand to which the gearing and other portions of the feeding mechanism nre connected can be placed either next to the one having the sheering-cutter, es shown, or in' such position with reference to the other cutters or punches ne to force the patienten-ard the said shearing-cutter.

Tags .re-enforced or strengthened at their perforated ends, es described, ere folly as strong as tags in which eyelets are inserted; and as the rc-enforcing pieces are mede, punched, and secured, to the tags without the regs being" removed from the machine, the cost of manufacture is grestly reduced.

Having thus described my invention, what .l claim as'new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

As an improvement in -the crt of mnnnfao turing shipping-tags, the method or' re-enforcing the same during the process of manufacture, es follows, viz: hy cutting a piece of sheet metal from e, ribbon, and afxing thc piece Ito the teg by pertorating the said piece and the tag by one stroke of the perforating linrr forced through the tag, the whole operation being continuons and completing; the tag, substantially as herein describeda In testimony whereo'l' new hereunto s bscrihed my neme this 3th day year oi' our Lord, 1877.

y HENRY D, MENTZEL, Witnesses: WM, T, HOWARD, JN0. S. Mnnnox.

the introverted,

of Merch, in t e 

